Complex Love
by Jedipilot24
Summary: Reposted! Begins several days after Equinox. K/7, J/C, P/T. Please Read and Review.


Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

A/N DO NOT SKIP!: In this fic, Voyager has four Cargo Bays, numbered 1-4. Cargo Bay 1 is on Decks 3 and 4 and that is where the Kazon ship in _Maneuvers_ collided. Cargo Bay 2 is also on Decks 3 and 4 and that is where the hydroponics bay is. Cargo Bay's 3 and 4 are on Decks 7 and 8 and Cargo Bay 4 is the one the Borg assimilated. If we assume that Chakotay's remark in _The Cloud_ referred only to the forward torpedo magazine (a bit of a stretch but only the forward torpedoes could conceivably have been used against the energy barrier), then that gives Voyager 76 torpedoes to start out with. Furthermore, Type 6 torpedoes only have a 25 isoton yield. This makes them better than standard photons but still inferior to quantums. Voyager has been described as carrying two other types of torpedoes as well (Class 9's in _Bliss_ and Class 10's in _Scorpion Part II_). For consistency sake, I will assume that these weapons are usually intended for planetary bombardment (with larger warheads but moving too slowly for practical use in the anti-ship role) and that the dire nature of 8472's threat was what caused Janeway to finally break them out.

Incidentally, this also makes a certain amount sense given the torpedo that we saw Picard use in _Skin of Evil_. Also, if we discard _The Voyager Conspiracy_ and _In a Mirror Darkly _then all we know about tricobalt devices is that they are improvements over the standard photon torpedo and have been around for at least a century but have never been put into widespread use by Starfleet. Of course, 24thcentury weapons would be much more powerful than their 23rd century counterparts so Starfleet would not have much reason to adopt an entirely new weapon system when they had an existing one that could be improved upon for even better performance.

The Daystrom Insitute suggests that in the 24th century tricobalts were improved to the point where they had a yield approaching but not quite reaching that of the quantum torpedo and that the tricobalts were tested but eventually rejected by Starfleet because of the superiority of quantums. The Obsidian Order acquired the schematics and parts for prototype quantum torpedoes and these weapons were installed on at least one Dreadnought-type missile (perhaps only on that one to see how well they would do). However, given the general technological inferiority of the Cardassians in comparison with the Federation, it should not be surprising that they later abandoned the use of the prototype quantums, especially since the Dominion was observed using weapons that are at least _visually_ identical to Voyager's tricobalts. If we assume that the Dominion _does_ use tricobalts, then the Cardassians would have little motivation to try to put the prototype quantums into mass production when their new allies could supply them with a much more easily produced buy still respectable weapon that has a comparable yield.

Instead of trying to convert isotons to megatons, I will assume from the use of iso- prefix (which means equal) that it is part of an entirely new measurement system. Just as we today measure explosions in tons of TNT, in the 24th century they measure explosions in isotons (an equivalent amount) of some other common explosive.

Voyager has been stated many times to have a crew between 140 and 150 but my most conservative count brings it down to 130 and that's _including_ the five Equinox people. Enough of that.

**Complex Love**

Chapter: 1

"Captain's Log, Stardate 53002.2, It has been several days since the destruction of the Equinox and Neelix's pot-luck is scheduled to begin soon. Overall, crew morale could use the boost, both because of the battle with the Equinox and the intense repair efforts afterwards."

The last members of the Senior Staff of Voyager were entering the Briefing Room for a routine meeting; as everyone sat down, Captain Janeway spoke up.

"Alright, B'Elanna, you start. How is the ship, overall?"

"Well," the half-Klingon engineer began "the last repairs were finished at 1500 hours and we're now as fully operational as we're going to be…at least until the _next_ battle that is."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Chakotay asked puzzled but it was Ensign Harry Kim who answered

"It means that if we were in the Alpha Quadrant, we would be due to put in for a standard refit," Kim said, looking distinctly unhappy to have to be the one to convey this information "Obviously that can't be done out here but there's only so much that _can_ be done on a ship at warp."

"Ideally," Torres went on "If we can find, trade and scrounge up the right supplies, we should be able to set down on a planet and do a complete maintenance overhaul in just a few days and I estimate that a _complete_ overhaul won't become critically necessary for another year or two but still…" Torres trailed off and let out a sigh "Quite frankly, Captain, we are dead lucky that the Intrepid-class was specifically designed so as to not require periodic baryon sweeps or else we _would_ be having serious problems." There were some silent nods at that for Voyager had been at near-constant warp for over five years. The Intrepid-classes extensive usage of bioneural gel-packs would have greatly complicated baryon sweep stops and so, wanting to spare captains and their crews from much grief down the line, Starfleet R&D had frozen the Intrepid-project until a solution was found that modified a ships warp field to negate the problem entirely.

"This is not the only issue we must deal with," Tuvok suddenly said after a moment of silence "As you all know, we began this journey with 38 photon torpedoes in our forward magazine and the same amount in the aft magazine, excluding the two tricobalt devices; now we have only ten torpedoes total remaining; six of those ten are Class 9's and Class 10's and those, I might remind you all, were designed primarily for attacks against planetary targets."

"Okay, Tuvok," Janeway said "I know you would not have brought this up unless you also had some idea of what to do so lets hear it?"

"The isokinetic cannon," Tuvok said with his ever-present Vulcan calm and Lt. B'Elanna Torres practically jumped out of her seat

"The isokinetic cannon!" she exclaimed "Are you crazy?" The others present winced at her outburst (except Tuvok of course) and remembered the isokinetic cannon that had been purchased from the Entharans. In all simulations, the cannon had performed exactly as expected…but in all simulations, it had been found to require a considerable more amount of power than initially expected. As long as the supply of torpedoes had held out, there had been little reason to try and find a way around the power situation; but now Janeway wished they had; there was no longer any choice. The Captain let out a sigh before folding her hands together.

"Alright," she said "B'Elanna, I want you and Seven to look into finding a way to power the cannon without compromising our other systems." The chief engineer nodded, some ideas already coming to her. "Is there any _other_ bad news that needs to be aired before we adjourn?" Janeway continued, almost afraid to ask. Sure enough, Chakotay spoke up but his eyes remained mostly on the PADD in front of him.

"Well this isn't _exactly _bad news, but our shuttle complement is in pretty poor shape. We have exactly one Type 9, the Aerowing Shuttle, the Delta Flyer, Neelix's ship, the two Work Bees and the two Type 18 shuttlepods."

"I see," Janeway replied, suppressing another sigh and managing not to wince. Voyager's equipment list had taken quite a beating over the past five years. The Work Bees were essential in conducting maintenance and repairs to the ship and the Type-18's, while a lot more advanced than the Type-15's they'd replaced, were still shuttlepods when all was said and done and only capable of short-range sublight missions….practically useless out here in the Delta Quadrant. Add in the fact that the _Baxial_ was little more than a glorified garbage scow and the result was that, for all intents and purposes, Voyager had only three shuttles. Three shuttles, four Type 6 torpedoes and 24 currently unusable isokinetic projectiles. If Torres could not come up with a way to power the cannon, then Voyager in any future battles would be forced to rely almost exclusively on phasers and _that_ was enough to bring back some very bad memories. Pushing those thoughts away, Captain Janeway looked one more time at each of her Senior Officers but none of them said anything further.

"Dismissed."

-------------------

Neelix's pot-luck had proven to be such a popular idea that almost two-thirds of Voyagers crew of 130 would be attending. That many people would simply not fit in the messhall and so both the Holodecks had been brought into play as well. This had made coordinating things a bit harder for Neelix but he had managed nonetheless.

Ensign Harry Kim noticed very quickly that one person was conspicuously absent and so off he went to Astrometrics where, sure enough, Seven of Nine was working.

"Why aren't you at the pot-luck, Seven?" Harry asked casually as he could.

"I do not require nourishment at this time, Ensign," Seven coolly replied not even looking up from her console.

"Seven, you're missing the whole _point_," Kim replied "At pot-lucks people socialize, try new foods and enjoy themselves."

"And you wish for me to attend this event, Ensign," Seven stated, still focused intently on the console in front of her.

"Yes," said Kim, starting to get exasperated "And please, will you just for_ once_ call me Harry? We're not going to be on duty or anything…this supposed to be a _casual_ event."

Seven thought about it for a moment and then made a decision. None of her work was _urgent _and previous experience showed her that Ensign Kim was unlikely to leave until he had found a way to persuade her to attend this event.

"I am still having difficulty grasping the human need for multiple designations. Nonetheless, I shall endeavor to remember." Seven paused for a moment "What suggestions do you have for our food items…Harry?"

"I heard the Commander say that he was bringing the salad, so we don't need that…What do you like, Seven?"

"Personal preferences are irrelevant…"

"No," Kim sighed "They are _very_ relevant, they help set you apart from others and eating normal food instead of nutritional supplements will help you a lot. For example, I like Chicken Marsala, however Tom does not, that makes us different, but we are still friends. Do you see what I'm trying to say?"

"I believe so," Seven said after a pause "However, I still do not see how personal preferences are relevant to the selection of a dish to share with the rest of the crew?"

"I'm getting there, just answer my question, what do you like to eat?" Seven thought for a while and finally said

"Annika liked strawberries." Harry had always wondered why Seven referred to her pre-assimilation life in the third person but that was another conversation for another time.

"Okay, strawberries are used in a lot of things…" Harry suddenly smiled "I know just the thing," he turned to the replicator "Computer, one whole strawberry cheesecake."

"You have insufficient replicator rations for that item," the computer said

"Computer" Seven said "One whole strawberry cheesecake". The requested item appeared in the replicator

"You have 3,479 replicator rations remaining."

"Gaa!" Harry said with wide eyes

"I beg your pardon, Ens--Harry?"

"Nothing," Kim said "Just surprised that you have so many." Seven raised an eyebrow at him but said nothing further as they left Astrometrics with the cheesecake and headed to Holodeck 2, which had been programmed as a larger version of the messhall. As she placed the cheesecake on the table with the growing assortment of platters and bowls. Seven smelled something strange

"What is that?" she asked Neelix and Harry could have sworn that he detected a hint of disgust in her voice.

"Oh, that," Neelix said excitedly "It's beef stew! Would you like to try some?"

"Neelix," said Harry patiently "I know what beef stew smells like and that isn't it."

"Well, the recipe was so bland," said Neelix "I just _had_ to put in some spices and leola root and…" Harry smacked his face and Seven said

"The point of this event, I have heard, is to raise morale, not serve unpalatable dishes."

"I thought you didn't care about things like that," Neelix said

"Ens—Harry has encouraged me to make personal preferences to food and other things as a way further my development." Seven said "And I have heard almost every member of the crew, at one time or another, complain about the taste of leola root, therefore it would qualify as an unpalatable dish." Harry looked at Seven in amazement. There was definitely more to her than met the eye. He certainly had seen that on several occasions, most notably the time she had first smiled at him. Now he was seeing it again and Harry liked what he saw.

"Just go ahead…try it!" Neelix almost begged. Seven raised her eyebrows but filled a bowl with the stew nonetheless. Harry did so as well though he already knew that this was not going to be good. Sure enough, Seven tasted the stew once they were out of earshot of Neelix; her face instantly cringed and Seven almost dropped both the spoon _and_ the bowl but caught herself in time, she only barely managed to swallow the stew.

"This is offensive," Seven stated and Harry chuckled

"If I had the rations for it, I'd show you what _real_ beef stew tastes like," he said and then, deciding that he might as well, sampled it as well. The instant the stew entered his mouth, Harry Kim felt his taste-buds go to Red-Alert; with great difficulty, he managed to swallow but it left a horrible aftertaste in his mouth that even a glass of water could not completely drive away.

"You do not seem to enjoy it either, Ens---Harry," said Seven and this time Harry, if hadn't known better, would have almost thought that she was _teasing_ him.

"You could say that," Harry managed to reply before taking another quick gulp of water from his refilled glass "Eurgh…I think my appetites' just been totally ruined."

"You did say that this event has other purposes besides the consuming of food, correct…Harry," Seven noted. It still didn't quite sound natural to hear Seven say his name but Harry Kim managed a grin nonetheless

"Quite right," he said

"Well that is something I never expected to see," Janeway quietly mused to Chakotay "Seven using someone's first name. Guess there's a first time for everything."

"Yes," Chakotay agreed as he glanced about the crowded mess hall. This pot-luck had been one of Neelix's better ideas…even with his modified versions of classic dishes.


End file.
